


Fox Ears

by Liza_Taylor



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Animal Ears, F/M, Fluff, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26308228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liza_Taylor/pseuds/Liza_Taylor
Summary: "Bernadetta was glad to admit her first response wasn’t to laugh, it was to stare in shock, her mouth hanging slightly open.A pair of fox ears came out of the top of Sylvain’s head. They were the same shade of red as his hair with a tuft of white and they flickered slightly like they were trying to catch every sound."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A spell goes wrong in class and Sylvain ends up hiding out in his room to wait for it to wear off and Bernadetta goes to check on him.
Relationships: Sylvain Jose Gautier & Bernadetta von Varley, Sylvain Jose Gautier/Bernadetta von Varley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Fox Ears

Bernadetta knocked on Sylvain’s door. “You okay Sylvain? I heard there was an accident during class today.” No response. That was odd, she knew he was in there and usually he answered right away if he heard her voice. She knocked again. “Sylvain, come on, I know you’re in there. Felix came to find me, he said that I needed to talk to you.”

Well, it was more Felix scared her. Bernadetta had just come out of class, ready to go hide out in her room when Felix had approached her. She was getting better with talking to others, especially Sylvain’s friends since she was around them often as an extension of being around Sylvain, but Felix always made her nevous. He was just grumpy and snappish all the time. Bernadetta had to fight a scream and flee as Felix told her that there had been an accident during today’s magic class and it was for the best that Bernadetta go see Sylvain as he would probably not come out of his room any time soon.

Felix did not give any more details and Bernadetta was too scared to ask, so here she was now in front of Sylvain’s door, knocking on it and asking for him to let her in. “Are you okay though?” she asked the door softly. “I assume you have to be if they let you go back to your room but Felix made it sound like it was something really bad…” She played with one of her hoodie ties, her anxiety starting to creep in. What if Sylvain couldn’t respond because he was unconscious? What if he was convulsing on the floor? What if he got turned into something and couldn’t respond, the possibilities were endless!

She tried the doorknob but it was locked. So he had to be in his room then. Another knock. “Sylvain? Are you okay? Please say something.” His room was on the second floor so going in through the window wasn’t much of an option although she was starting to really debate on how to do that now.

Thankfully after some rustling, the door opened slightly. Sylvain looked fine although he was wearing a hat. Odd, since Sylvain took a lot of pride in his hair and with how long he spent getting it to look just right, he would never have it covered like it was right now.

“Hey Bernie, as you can see, I’m fine.”

“Uh yeah, that’s good.” She wrung her hands together and gave him a quick once-over. He did seem fine, nothing looked out of place. Why was he wearing a hat though? “What happened?” she asked softly. “Felix made it sound really serious though.”

“It’s…” Sylvian grimaced and glanced up and down the hallway before opening his door wider. “Come in.”

Bernadetta did so without hesitation. Sylvian was a safe person for her even with his reputation. He shut the door tight before turning to face her. “Please don’t laugh.”

“Why would I laugh?”

“Just promise me okay?”

“Of course.” Bernadetta ran her fingers along her hoodie tie as she tried to figure out what could possibly happen to cause that kind of reaction.

“So Annette was clumsy and she tripped while casting a spell and it bounced off the objects in the room and ended up hitting me. It’s temporary according to the clinic so all I can really do is wait for it to wear off.” Sylvain reached up and pulled the hat off his head.

Bernadetta was glad to admit her first response wasn’t to laugh, it was to stare in shock, her mouth hanging slightly open.

A pair of fox ears came out of the top of Sylvain’s head. They were the same shade of red as his hair with a tuft of white and they flickered slightly like they were trying to catch every sound.

“Say something Bernie,” he mumbled, his fingers grasping the hat tightly.

“It…you have fox ears.”

“Yeah…fox ears.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Not particularly. I mean sounds are a little louder than before which is weird but other than that it feels like ears, I guess.”

“Can I touch them?” Bernadetta clamped her hands over her mouth. Why in the world did she say that? Sure they looked so soft and velvety but this was causing Sylvain distress, she shouldn’t be interested in touching them! “S…sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s okay, you can touch them Bernie.” Sylvain rubbed the back of his neck. “Here, why don’t you sit on my bed and I’ll sit on the floor?”

That made sense. Sylvain was so much taller than her that if he bent down to let her touch them, it would be an awkward angle for him. However as she kicked off her shoes and settled on his bed, she wondered if this was overstepping a bit. “Sylvain, if this is too weird then you can say no.” Unfortunately Sylvain was the type of person to say yes if it meant pleasing a woman so they would like him. He wasn’t usually that way with her but sometimes he would fall back into those habits without meaning to.

He leaned his head back so he could look her in the eye. “It’s fine Bernie, really. You’re probably the only person I would be okay with touching them to be honest.” He chuckled. “I mean Felix would probably try to rip them off my head.”

Bernadetta had to agree with that. She couldn’t picture him being gentle at all. “Tell me if I should stop, okay?” With slight hesitation, she reached out and touched his ears. They were soft, the texture slightly velvety. She couldn’t help but smile as she touched them, the ears reminding her of the cats she would pet around the monastery. They were relaxing and in the moment, she could feel all of her anxiety and worry fading away.

Sylvain coughed and shifted away.

She startled and pulled her hands back. “Sorry,” she stammered. “That was probably too much.”

“No, it was…fine.” Sylvain turned to face her, his face oddly red. He hid his mouth behind his fingers, his attention on the spot next to her. “I just didn’t think it would wise for you to keep touching my ears like that.”

“Oh.” She curled her hands in her lap. “Did I do it wrong? Did it hurt?” Her gray eyes widen in a slight panic. “Did it hurt Sylvian? I’m so sorry!”

“No, no, nothing like that! It felt fine, good even.” He rubbed the back of his neck, still not looking her in the eye, the ears flicking slightly in time with his movement. “I just…was worried I wouldn’t be able to control myself if you kept going like that.”

“Control yourself?” She tilted her head slightly as she tried to understand what he was talking about. “Control what?” Maybe the spell gave him more than just fox ears, maybe he got some fox traits out of it!

“Control…” He cleared his throat and stood. “It’s…I’ll tell you later. Yeah, much later.”

“Uh…okay?” Bernadetta looked down and slowly ran her finger along the decorative seam of his blanket, her stomach churning. She had to have done something wrong, Sylvain was just being nice to her, she was a crappy, selfish person that only cared about herself.

“Hey, it’s okay, really.” Sylvian reached out and gently bopped her under the chin. His ears shifted based on his mood, she realized. Now they were pointed forward but were also drooping a little. “Maybe it’ll be okay in short bursts.” He sat on the bed in front of her. “I had a moment to recover, you can touch them again if you want.”

“But…are you sure?” She picked at some of the skin next to her fingernail. “Are you really sure?”

“I’m sure.” He crossed his legs and leaned forward slightly. “Two fox ears as you requested Bernie.” His grin was so dorky that Bernadetta couldn’t help mirror it with a small smile of her own.

“You’ll tell me when to stop right?”

“Of course.”

After another moment hesitation, she reached out and touched his ears. After a moment of rubbing them, she could feel herself relaxing again, a soft smile lighting up her face. It was like petting one of the monastery cats, soft and gentle.

Realizing that she had been petting him for a while, Bernadetta quickly pulled her hands away. He hadn’t said anything, but he was forcing himself to endure it for her right? Glancing at his face, Sylvain didn’t look distressed. Instead he had a soft, gentle expression on his face as he watched her.

“Sylvain?” Oh no, what if she broke him or something by playing with his ears!?

“Huh?” He shook his head slightly. “Oh, sorry, did you say something Bernie?”

“No, not really. Are you okay though? You didn’t speak up so I was worried about it being too much.”

“Right, yeah.” He leaned back and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m fine. It really calms you down huh?”

“What do you mean?”

He touched one of his ears, running it in between his thumb and pointer finger. “Just by petting them, it seems to relax you-it’s not weird or anything, don’t get me wrong. I just…wasn’t expecting it.” He cleared his throat. “Maybe Annette can figure out how to replicate the spell, so whenever you want to pet them you can.”

“You don’t need to do that,” she protested.

“Well, the chance of her knowing how to do it again is slim but having fox ears is cool, I mean my hearing is better. Not too sure about walking around with ears like this though.” Sylvain frowned. “Might need to invest in more hats.”

She giggled, just the thought of Sylvain walking around wearing a hat pretty funny.

“Seriously, I can start a whole hat trend, don’t judge me.”

“Right, right I won’t-”

With a small pop, a puff of some burst around Sylvain’s head. One moment he had fox ears and then next, human ears.

“Oh, guess it wore off then.” Sylvain touched his ears. “Never thought I would happy having normal earlobes until right now.”

“I think I like you better with normal ears,” said Bernadetta with a smile. Sure the fox ears were nice to pet but Sylvain looked like himself now, the person that went out of his way to spend time with someone like her.

Sylvain’s face took on a hint of red again. “That…that’s good. You hungry? I’m starving since I didn’t get to each lunch since I was hiding out because of the ears. You want to come with?”

“Sure.” Bernadetta jumped off his bed and put her shoes back on. She startled as Sylvain put his arms around her, his head against the back of her neck. “Uh, Sylvain?”

“Sorry, I’m good now, just felt like giving you a hug. Not fair you got to touch my ears for so long and I get nothing in return.” His grin was playful and Bernadetta couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Sylvain was always overly affectionate.

Like always, Sylvain led the way but he kept his stride short so it was easy for Bernadetta to keep up with him.


End file.
